Come walking in Chatsworth, Mr President

PRESIDENT Cyril Ramaphosa came to Chatsworth just over a week ago and residents of the predominantly Indian Durban township welcomed him with open arms. It was a visit that helped immeasurably to reassure the local community their voices were at last being heard.

They recall that he had planned to meet the community in July but had to put off that trip because of other pressing engagements.

But they now believe he has more than made up for that disappointment by pledging to visit Chatsworth more often in the future, so he can listen to their grievances and try to resolve them.

The pledge came as a breath of fresh air to local residents, many of whom believe they have been neglected by the ruling ANC in recent years.

Members of the Chatsworth community were ardent supporters of the mass democratic movement in the 80s and 90s and played a major role in opposing the discredited tri-cameral parliamentary system, which the apartheid government tried to sell to Indian and coloured people in those years.

The ANC, in fact, enjoyed considerable support in the Indian community when Nelson Mandela was president, but this has waned in recent years for a variety of reasons.

This sense of disillusionment with the ANC became so evident that provincial leader Sihle Zikalala recently warned the party that it was losing the important Indian vote in KwaZulu-Natal.

Speaking at an ANC regional conference in May, Zikalala said Indian voters had lost their trust in the party and were leaving in large numbers.

While President Ramaphosa’s visit is reassuring, local residents are hoping it is not just a vote-catching gesture before the elections next year.

The people of Chatsworth will no doubt hold him to his promises.

They also want to see unity and greater social cohesion in the country and many of them see President Ramaphosa as the person best equipped to achieve these ideals.

They also want clear answers from the president about many of the problems confronting the community.

This weakening of support for the ruling party in Chatsworth and other predominantly Indian areas is something Ramaphosa clearly understands, hence his plea to the community to “bring back the love you once had for the ANC”.

His warm reception was epitomised by the invitation to him by a 5-year-old pupil, Karusha Gounden, who told the president: “You like to walk. Please may you come one day and walk with me while I ride my bicycle.”

It’s an invitation the president can hardly say no to.